Stuck on you
by sadplant
Summary: "Sasuke, are you... blushing?" She sounded amused. "I am not." He replied quickly, giving himself away. "Oh my god! Do you like him, Sasuke? Is he your type?" Ino asked, suddenly very much paying attention. Sakura was trying not to burst into a laughter and failing miserably. — Fluffy. University AU. NaruSasu.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** Hi, everyone! This is my first time writing fanfiction in english and also my first time writing NaruSasu. It will be a longfic. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Sasuke wasn't much of a fast learner.

Everybody seemed to think he was, though. They'd only ever seen his results, skills too close to perfection, very steady hands as he painted portraits, grasping the very soul of anyone who posed for him.

He practiced everyday, too many hours to count. Loud progressive rock playing incessantly on his headphones while he drew the same faces - mostly his favorite musicians - over and over until he felt they made them justice. The feeling of accomplishment usually didn't last long after the painting was finished, but it was worth it. He lived for this tiny moment where something inside of him made some sort of sense.

He'd been painting for quite a long time, since his childhood. At age of seven he had asked his big brother to buy him one of those kits with lots of crayons, colored pencils and cheap cans of paint. By fourteen, he had already read all the books of the local library's art section. Sasuke thought of himself as someone who would someday appear in one of those books. Two entire pages: at the top of the first page, one black and white picture of him in his forties, sitting inside his art studio with a cat on his lap, beside a wooden easel sprinkled with paint - he was messy when he painted like he was with nothing else. The second page would feature his masterpieces - which he would, hopefully, paint soon. He liked to think that his first real painting would be there as well, as flawed as it was.

Sasuke's first portrait was of his mother's face, smiling tenderly as he would always remember her. He was eight when both her and his father were killed in a car accident. His mother worked at home so they spent a lot of time together. He probably started drawing trying to mimic her - she was an architect. The house where he and his brother Itachi lived was projected by her. It was huge. Four rooms, one small office - once his father's, now Itachi's - and one big office - his mother's, as she very much appreciated having a lot of space.

Since their mother had made a small fortune drawing houses for the bourgeois, Itachi and Sasuke had no trouble living without working through their teenage years, and would often spend their money on anything they found interesting. When Sasuke turned sixteen Itachi told him: "you can buy anything you want, as long as it's legal," so he got a motorcycle. His sibling didn't like the idea, but only said that as long as he kept his good grades he could also keep the vehicle.

He loved his motorcycle. Loved riding it, the speed, the wind, the feeling of power. Everyday he got up early so he could explore the city while it was still waking up. That day wasn't different. He got up, grabbed his keys and backpack, put his boots on and went out. Once again, he got to university thirty minutes before his first class. It was fine. At least now he had time to grab a smoke before having to face Mr. Wilson, the annoying Sculpture teacher, and his boring lecture on how Sculpture was the most subtlest of all the Fine Arts. He sighed just by thinking about it. After the motorcycle was neatly parked, Sasuke checked his jacket's pocket for his mobile and was getting ready to leave the parking lot.

That's when he first saw him.

He wasn't the first person Sasuke saw. There was a bunch of people socializing near the huge tree in the middle of the campus - known as The Tree - and he could spot some familiar faces right away. This guy clearly stood out from the crowd. First there was his looks, of course - bright orange hoodie, really? -, but the thing that shone the most was his bright yellow hair.

He wasn't just blond, Sasuke noticed, his hair was yellow like the color yellow. Like yellow paint, yellow bees, yellow marmalade, yellow custard, something _alive_ ; yellow anything-but-hair. Sasuke didn't have the habit of looking at anyone more than once if he didn't have to - which was rare - neither was he friends with them - which was even rarer. He actually avoided eye contact, especially at university - that hell of a place! But this guy had somehow caught his eye. He was confused; he didn't understand why.

He put his helmet under his left arm, adjusted his backpack and started walking, headed to the arts building. As he passed by the group of excited people by the tree, he lifted his gaze and abruptly slowed his pace to try and see some more of the guy-with-bright-yellow-hair's features. Said guy was talking about something to the people in front of him and then suddenly burst out laughing, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. Sasuke was staring right at his face when the guy stopped laughing and a millisecond later stared back at him, a hint of a smile still on his face. The amused look turned into a surprised one as he noticed he was being observed. Sasuke looked away as quickly as he could and felt his face getting warm as he stumbled towards his destination.

God! What the hell was that? For a moment he could swear he heard someone calling him - which he decided to ignore right away, too embarrassed to even look back.

 _"He has blue eyes,"_ Sasuke thought to himself as he sat down - now safe - alone in the classroom. All red cheeks and pounding heart. He grabbed the cigarette pack inside his pocket and decided to go out for a smoke, avoiding the main door of the building.

* * *

Naruto was one of those people that made everyone believe in him.

Three days by his side and anyone would be taking a bullet for the guy without even thinking twice. That was just who he was. People gravitated around him naturally, he didn't have to ask for their friendship, he earned it by being himself, dependable and loyal. But if you asked him why people liked him, he'd probably say "I have an awesome sense of humor!" - and he wouldn't be lying.

High school had been a wild fucking trip. It wasn't that he didn't take his studies seriously - because he did, very much -, he got As in art classes and Cs in pretty much everything else.. But he wasn't very good at choosing priorities. Everything was first on the list. Lots of parties with his friends - by partying they meant, actually, driving to the middle of nowhere and getting pissed drunk as an excuse to make out with everyone in the group.

He was determined to make every year the best of his life, and he thought that the only way to achieve it was by trying everything at least once. So by the time he graduated school he had already had a lot of firsts. First time traveling with no parents, first kiss, first time, first time smoking pot, first tattoo, first lip piercing - which made him terrified of needles... - and, of course, first time dying his hair.

The first color he picked out was red. His mother was a redhead, after all, and he was thinking about her a lot that week. Her birthday was getting close and he would soon travel to the city where he was born, to leave flowers on her grave as he always did. When he got home with his brand new hair, Sarutobi looked at him as if he had just seen a ghost.

Naruto's biological parents died when he was just a baby. Hiruzen Sarutobi was his father - but was more of a grandpa, since he was already in his seventies. When Naruto's biological dad, Minato, was alive, he and Sarutobi kind of had a father and son relationship - since Minato was an orphan too. When Naruto's parents passed away, Sarutobi required his custody in a heartbeat. He already had adopted a child before, Iruka, Naruto's brother. He raised the boys as well as he could, making an effort so that their age gap wouldn't be a problem to any of them.

He didn't say anything when Iruka got a huge tattoo on his back, or when Naruto got home with his lower lip the size of his head after the failed piercing attempt. But when Naruto got home that day, his hair a vivid red, he felt something inside him break. "I wish you had more time with them, your mother and father," he said as he gave Naruto's hair a gentle pat. And once again, Naruto reassured him "I already have a lot of time with the best father in the world, dad."

Naruto always thought of himself as nothing more than a hard working guy, so it took him by surprise when he found out he got selected for a scholarship in one of the best art schools of the state. Gosh, was he talented after all? Sarutobi couldn't be more proud of his son, the kid could be a little trouble - and, sometimes, a whole lot of trouble - but there had never been any doubt in his heart that his boy would make it.

Naruto packed his things almost immediately, kissed his dad goodbye and got inside his car in record time. He threw the backpack with his most precious belongings (a journal, a little notebook, fingerless gloves and, of course, his drawing material) at the backseat, checked his pocket for his cellphone and a couple minutes later he was getting to the highway.

He slept inside his car that night - and the next one - and, as he was already there, he was the first to arrive at school on monday.

He walked towards the first crowd he saw and immediately got his brilliant no-shutting- up-until-I-make-a-friend plan working.

That's when he first saw him.

He was just finishing telling that one story about the fish when he felt a very familiar tingling, that _someone is staring at me_ tingling. He got that a lot since he started dying his hair bright colors and was almost at peace with it, so he finished the story fast enough not to get interrupted by his own laughter - the fish story always got him. He had such a blast his head tilted backwards and everyone who was paying attention laughed with him. As he recovered, he turned his face east a little by instinct. And there was the source of the tingling.

A tall guy, all combat boots and leather jacket, was staring right at him. And a second later he was not anymore. The guy was now walking fast towards the nearest building. Someone tapped Naruto's shoulder to get him back, and he smiled and tried to pay attention, but he was too... distracted. The encounter lasted just a couple of seconds but the brunette has made quite an impression on him - why was he staring at him like that, for God's sake? The moment the mystery guy looked away was the moment he decided to figure out who the hell he was and become his friend. And once he decided to win someone over and be friends with them you could consider it done.

* * *

"You should stop smoking, it's terrible for your lungs and you know it," the girl said.

"Good morning, Sakura," Sasuke replied, closing his eyes and exhaling slowly.

"... Gosh, you're such a show off."

"Dunno what you're talking about," his voice so low it was almost a whisper as he offered his cigarette pack to her.

She sat by his side, took one cigarette and tapped it against her thigh before bringing it to her mouth with a sigh.

"Come the fuck on," she mumbled, the words coming out funny because of the cigarette between her lips. She grabbed the cigarette and exhaled. "Leather jacket, dark jeans, expensive boots. You even got a motorcycle! And don't pretend that your ear piercing was just born with you."

Sasuke remained silent, so she continued. "Look at your haircut!" she pointed. "Is that... hair gel?"

Sakura was almost sniffing his hair when Ino suddenly appeared making a statement. "That's definitely hair gel. And that's disgusting." She sat down next to Sakura and pulled her smartphone out of her bag.

Sasuke shrugged and lit another cigarette - with his zippo! _Come. On_. – and Sakura started again. "You see, that's what I mean." she pointed at him with her hand open to exemplify. "He doesn't even pretend he's not trying to get all the freshmen. And freshwomen!"

"I'm not trying to get any-!" he didn't finish the sentence, sighing exasperatedly. "I'm just naturally stylish. It's not my fault if you're not." he stated simply, proud as he was of his looks. He was a Leo after all. Sakura opened her mouth in shock. Ino started laughing loudly and Sakura turned to face her. She was laughing at something on her phone, clearly not interested in the conversation.

Sakura turned her face back to Sasuke and eyed him furiously. "You see, the only reason why I'm not putting your cigarette out on your pretty pretty face is because you would turn it into some tragedy for your art." She grabbed his cigarette anyway and put it on her mouth, leaving him empty handed.

"I didn't mean it." She didn't look at him. "Where did this all come from anyway?" He asked. If he knew her well enough, she just wanted some attention and an opportunity to talk. They were friends after all, it wouldn't hurt to treat her nicely.

She adjusted herself on the grass and started. "So... some people were chatting near The Tree today. Lots of freshmen, some sophomores - anyway, you surely saw the crowd on your way here." She coughed twice - probably because of the smoke - and continued. "Hinata was trying to talk with this cute and loud guy, and was almost ready to say something - or so she told me -, when he suddenly stopped talking and turned his head to look at something. She followed his gaze and BAM, who was there?" Sakura turned to face him, waiting for an answer.

Sakura sighed. "Who was there, Sasuke?" she asked again, impatiently. "How am I supposed to know?" He asked back, frowning lightly. "Oh, you do know, you jerk, 'cause it was you, staring at her guy! And don't pretend you don't know because she told me Kiba even called out your name!"

His heart skipped a beat. Sasuke fought the urge to deny, knowing it would only put him in a worse position than he already was. Instead, he said. "Do you mean the guy with yellow hair?" Just saying this out loud made the blood start to rush to his face. He tilted his head forward so his hair would cover his face a little but he was already doomed.

"Sasuke, are you... blushing?" She sounded amused. "I am not." He replied quickly, giving himself away. "Oh my god! Do you like him, Sasuke? Is he your type?" Ino asked, suddenly very much paying attention. Sakura was trying not to burst into a laughter and failing miserably. "I was starting to think you were some kind of devil, breaking people's hearts by never looking at them twice. Yet here you are, blushing because of some cute guy." Ino had no mercy at all - it was Sasuke's fault for stealing the attention from, like, _everyone_ she had a crush on. "So, Sasuke, tell me. Does the devil have a heart?"

At this point Sasuke had lost all hopes of having any peace for the months to come. "I don't know what's wrong with you two." They started laughing harder. "I merely gazed at the guy, his hair is yellow for Christ's sake." He frowned at them to no avail then closed his eyes, defeated.

Sasuke rested his elbows on his legs, brought his face to his cupped hands and sighed deeply.

This was going to be a very very long term...


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:** Hey, everyone.

Thank you very much for the reviews!

It took a bit longer than I expected, but, finally, here's the second chapter.

I hope you enjoy it!

 **Beta-reader** : itsafour. Thank you, my dear!

(SORRY, GUYS! I posted the wrong version of the chapter, so I had to repost!)

* * *

Sasuke was not a heartbreaker, that's what he kept telling everyone. At least he didn't consider himself to be one.

He couldn't tell exactly when this rumour got turned into some known fact among his friends and colleagues, but he kind of knew how it started.

During his first term at art school, some idiot decided to create this spotted thing, a page on Facebook associated with a Google form. You could send anything you wanted anonymously and the page's owner would post it there publicly. The main goal? Flirting. Some sort of online cupid. People would describe someone - sometimes they'd mention their names - and say something like "you're just too hot to be true" or "I've been in love with you for ages" and even "senpai notice me", and then everyone's job became to try and find the target's personal page in order to tag them on the post. There were all sorts of publications. Most of them were about someone the sender saw once or twice on campus. Some others were declarations of never-ending love and even some proposals came out. Those about random stuff were everyone's favorites - the page's most famous post was one about astrology, in which each astrological sign definition had at least one of the university's teachers as an example. When Sasuke found out about this page, he just thought it was stupid, a waste of time - except for the publications about kittens in need of a new home, of course.

One can imagine how displeased he was when Ino - who else? - tagged him on a post there.

It said, "What do I have to do to get Sasuke's (Fine Arts) attention? Does the devil have a heart?" (Ino never let him forget this one.) After the first post, it was as if the gates of hell had opened and dragged him by the guts.

It was a nightmare.

He would log in on Facebook to check his study groups and, a while later, find himself scrolling down that damn page. It got to a point where he'd check it whether he was tagged or not. He was addicted. "Sasuke, paint me like one of your french guys!", he'd read on a particularly boring day. Much to his own surprise, he found himself amused by the post - he was secretly a Titanic fan. Sometimes it was funny - he couldn't deny those people were creative with their pick-up lines - but he already felt beyond pissed and frustrated from all the unwanted attention. Why wouldn't they like his art page instead?

Against his own will, he built a reputation. Somehow, people started to think he actually hooked up with each one of the posters that mentioned him. It wasn't long until he noticed people whispering behind his back at parties. Whenever it happened, he tried hard to blend in with the walls of the smoking area, his eyes wide shut as he paid attention to the terrible music - the drunk noise of young people trying to get into each other's pants.

Eventually, he sent a message to the spotted page, asking them to stop publishing things with his name on it. He didn't know if they had met his demand or if the messages had just stopped. Either way, he'd been freed from this curse ever since.

The rumors never left him, though.

Sasuke did not accept the title of heartbreaker simply because he wasn't interested in anyone's heart. It had happened, sometimes, but it never lasted long enough for him to act on it. There was a time where he tried to go out with people, to like someone in that way his friends kept telling him about. To fall in love - whatever the hell that meant. But he never did. He was ok with that. And his group of friends was composed of people who accepted that part of him as well. Some of them had liked him on the past - first rule of high school is you don't talk about high school -, but most of them never had this kind of thought about him.

It was fine. They were fine. But calling him a heartbreaker was still a thing. He'd often stare at them and make a face. "It's not my fault if these idiots mistake my absolute lack of interest for breaking their hearts", he'd said once. "It's your fault that you're good looking and talented, though. You break their hearts just by existing, Sasuke", Sakura had replied. He never tried to reason with her about it again - Sakura was the queen of getting her heart broken by pretty girls who solely existed near her; he wouldn't push his luck trying to argue about this.

Sasuke got home early that day. He took a shower, put on his pajamas' pants and started his yoga routine. He was four asanas away from finishing when his cellphone started ringing loudly. He breathed in and out, trying to ignore it but the caller was being insistent. He breathed out exasperatedly and laid down for five seconds before getting up and going to search for the phone in his jacket's pockets. When he found it, he sighed at the sight of his caller's ID. Of course.

" _Hello? Are you there, Sasuke? Is this you?_ "

The person on the other side of the line was practically shouting. "Yes, Sakura. You called my number, of course it is me." He replied.

" _Sasuke!_ " Was she sobbing? " _Ino did that again! Why is she so mean to me?_ " Oh no. " _Sasuke, please, please!, can you pick me up? She gave me a ride here but now she's sucking some pageant queen's face and it's like I don't even exist anymore. Ugh! She always does that! I don't even know why I try to-_ "

"Where are you, Sakura?"

" _What?_ "

"Where. Are. You?" He asked again, punctuating each word.

" _I'm... I'm at the welcome- Shit!, she's coming my way, wait a- Ino! I was just talking to Sasuke, he's kinda depressed._ " There was a pause and then she continued. " _Red eyes? Must be the weed, man!_ " She laughed nervously.

Sasuke pressed the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. If he could notice the blatant lie through the phone, Ino should be seeing right through his sobbing drunk friend act.

" _Yeah, yeah, no!, I mean, Sasuke is coming to pick me up. He needs some company right now._ " He heard fragments of Ino's voice among the noise. " _No! You don't need to worry, it's fine, I'll take a ride with the biker version of Wednesday Addams, 'course I'm fine!_ " She giggled a little and added " _enjoy the party, have fun!_ " A moment of silence followed - if you could call that terrible ruckus silence - until Sakura spoke again. " _Sasuke. Are you there?_ "

"Yes."

" _I'm at the welcome party. Will you come?_ " She sounded devastated.

"Yes. I'll just put on some clothes. Be there in ten minutes. Or less."

" _Okay._ "

"Sakura?"

" _Yeah?_ "

"You'll be fine."

She chuckled. It sounded painfully sad. " _Yeah. I'll be fine. Put on your leather party dress or whatever and hurry up. See ya._ "

"Bye."

As soon as she hung up, Sasuke fetched some clothes, got his keys and went out.

* * *

Naruto was, what some would call, the life of the party. It hasn't always been like this, though.

When he was younger, he used to be totally ashamed of his moves. He couldn't dance unless he drank so much his muscles would melt - and when he tried to move in that state, it wasn't much of a dance anyway. It was like that for a while but it sort of changed when he met this dude, Shino. The headbanger. The first time Naruto laid eyes on him he assumed the guy had just entered the wrong door. Then he saw Shino take his glasses off, give them to the person next to him and _damn_... he ruled the dance floor. When he danced, Naruto couldn't avert his eyes from him even for a second; blinking seemed like a waste of that godly vision. He followed Shino around with his eyes every time he found him at The Fox, their favorite nightclub, where they could only get in with fake ID's. One day Naruto finally got brave enough to actually talk to the guy. They dated for four months. It was in the middle of their third month together that Shino got tired of their club and started going to this Gray Beetle one, a new spot downtown. Naruto went there just once, and that was probably the beginning of the end for them. It wasn't that the Gray Beetle was totally lame, the place was actually really nice; it had good beverages, great music, nicely painted black walls. The problem was the amount of dudes lurking in the dark, staring at them. Unlike The Fox, Gray Beetle didn't have many people dancing, so Shino was a soloist in the middle of the crowd; the guys eyed him like wolves. It gave Naruto the creeps, but Shino liked it. They talked about it and it was a mutual understanding that their relationship wouldn't be damaged just because they were going to different places. Despite their efforts, their conversations, when push came to shove, they sort of slowly broke apart.

Naruto felt like shit for weeks, but he was as okay as he could be with that. Until the night when Shino showed up at The Fox holding hands with this guy who looked like a brunette version of himself.

A taller, older, dark-eyeshadow wearing, handsome, headbanger version of himself... Of course, Shino, being the oblivious gentleman he was, didn't notice Naruto's attempts to avoid them. He walked towards him as soon as he saw the blond trying to disappear into the crowd.

Naruto was a chill dude but this was too much even for him. He chatted with the couple for hours. The new boyfriend, deep voice, shiny teeth, said he fell in love with Shino's moves. _Oh, yeah. No shit._ At some point, the eyeshadow prince said "hey! Naruto, right? Don't you go to school with my lil' brother?" … And that's how he found out his ex was dating his best friend's older brother, that one Gaara kept telling him about. The drums player, lead singer; the fucking overachiever. Gaara's family consisted in a conglomerate of gorgeous geniuses, apparently.

It felt like a joke.

After they were gone, Naruto was left with his wreck of a heart to take care of. He didn't feel like kissing anyone or drinking. He didn't feel like doing anything. Then this cute girl approached him. "Why are you at a party if you're sad?", she asked. He gave her a sad smile. "Do you want to dance?"

He thought about saying no, but she was cute and she was smiling and he felt like shit, so he just nodded and took her hand. It was one of the best days of his life. He danced his ass off and made party friends who wouldn't even remember his name the day after, he sang to the top of his lungs, he drank loads of beer and water; basically, he made it count. After that day, there was never a party where he didn't dance.

Due to his history, the party wallflowers were almost prey to him. If he saw someone standing in a corner during a good song, he was likely to approach them saying something like "Hey! How you doing?" and then indulge in conversation. If he thought someone wanted to dance but needed a little push, he'd ask them to dance with him. If they needed food or water, he would provide. If he thought the person was feeling unwell, he'd offer help. But when he saw someone crying... Shit. He was ready to offer his shoulder, to give them a ride home, to hug them. To punch huge jerks in the face and wake up in the hospital the next day – it had already happened twice.

The minute he saw that pink-haired girl standing in a corner, staring at the void and hugging a bottle of beer at the welcome party, his legs moved on their own accord. He said "hey!" and she looked up, teary-eyed. Okay, that was serious. "Are you okay? Can I help you or anything?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess." She smiled. "Nice hair." She pointed at his bright yellow bangs.

"Thanks!" He smiled back. "I liked yours too. Most people don't get why I dye my hair yellow, since I'm naturally blond, but I think I like it better this color. Cartoon yellow. Like an anime character or something." He was being too enthusiastic about his hair. _Again_. He cleared his throat before talking again. "So… Tough first day at school?"

"More like tough every day. Plus, I'm a sophomore, so I guess today doesn't count as my first day in this living hell. Fine Arts, by the way. You?"

"Fine Arts as well. I'd say I'm a freshman, but I guess this doesn't count as my first day either."

"How come?"

"I went to university back in my hometown, but I got a scholarship here and asked to be transferred. I'm kind of a sophomore too."

"That means we'll probably get some classes together. I can show you the ropes if you'd like."

"I'd like it very much!"

* * *

Sasuke was cursing himself for his dumbness as he rolled on the throttle. _Of fucking course_ he needed to refuel his motorcycle and _of fucking course_ he forgot his wallet at home. He got back to his house in record time and started searching for his wallet right away - for some reason, he couldn't find it in any of its usual places.

One could imagine how surprised he was when he got downstairs and, instead of his wallet, found his older brother. How come he didn't see him on his way in? Itachi was sitting on his usual chair reading some literary classic, legs crossed, reading glasses placed comfortably at the tip of his nose. He looked like some movie character played by young Robert De Niro, one of those guys who would calmly smoke a whole pack in half a minute while writing sad and dark poetry.

"Hey, Itachi."

Itachi looked up from his book. "Good evening, Sasuke. Is everything okay? You look distressed."

There he was. The Teacher. Sasuke thought his brother couldn't look more like an English Teacher even if he tried. He was already glorious in that matter. "Good evening. Did you see my wallet?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes a little, as if trying to squeeze his memory. "I guess... I did. Wait a second." He closed his book, got up and walked towards his small office, the one which was once their father's, and got out of there with Sasuke's wallet on his hand. "I happened to stumble upon it on the floor of the entrance hall."

"I see." Sasuke stretched out his hand to receive his wallet but Itachi stood still. Instead, he asked: "Sasuke, are you having any trouble?"

"What?"

"It's been a while since we talked properly, I wanted to know if you're really okay. Do you need anything? If you want to drink at the party I can pick you up later."

"How- how do you know I'm going to a party?" Christ. Was he going to try The Talk with him again?

"Lucky guess. I happen to work at the university you attend to. The other teachers were saying the welcome party would take place at that new club tonight. When I saw you rush out the door, I thought that might be the case."

"... Okay. I don't need anything. Just my wallet."

"Right." He put the wallet on Sasuke's hand.

"Right. I'll be going."

"Sasuke."

"Yes."

"I noticed that there are no condoms in your wallet."

 _Oh no._ "Stop right there." He held a finger up. "Did you open it?"

"It was open when I found it."

"Gosh, you're such a liar!" He closed his eyes forcefully. "Okay, I'll get going-"

"-Sasuke, we'll have to talk about this eventually-"

"-No! No, no, no! That's gross. I'll get going." He practically ran towards the door.

Sasuke was almost closing the door when Itachi shouted: "buy some condoms!"

"Gross!", he shouted back, and banged the door shut. Gosh, sometimes he wanted to kill his brother.

He looked at his watch, sighed, got on his bike and started the engine. He hated being late.

* * *

The party duo had been talking for a while before it occurred Naruto to ask: "What's your name?"

"Sakura."

"I'm Naruto!"

She nodded. "Nice to meet you, Naruto. Thanks for…" She scratched her nose. "…checking in on me."

"No biggie. Are you okay, though?"

"I'm feeling a bit better. A friend of mine is coming to pick me up. I wonder what's taking him so long, anyway. He said he'd be here in like ten minutes."

"Oh, cool." An awkward silence followed. Naruto stared at his feet. Was he being a bother? "I'm sorry, but… am I bothering you? Would you rather be by yourself? I totally understand if you want to be alone."

"No, no!" She waved her hands to emphasize the denial. "I was feeling like shit until you came and talked to me. I mean it. Sorry if I sounded like I wanted you to leave."

"Please don't apologize for something like that!" He waved his hands too. They giggled. He felt the silence uneasily growing once more. "So…" He tried to think of something clever to say, but he ended up with "what are your preferences?"

Sakura blinked slowly. "Girls", she stated simply. "Can't… can't you tell?" Gosh, and she had thought she had nailed the _lesbian art student_ look.

Naruto let out a loud laugh. "I can tell!" He saw her eyes darting to this blond girl every now and then. "I meant art! Art preferences." He added breathlessly. "The reason why you're studying Fine Arts and stuff."

"Oh!" She chuckled. "Well, I like to do a little bit of everything, but I'm more of a cartoonist! Or a colorist, maybe? I'm into sculpting as well. I'm here because I wanted to sharpen my skills and, obviously, get a degree. ... Maybe become an Arts Teacher! But I'm not sure yet."

"Cool!"

"How about you?"

"I'm a painter."

"Really? My best friend is a painter too. He does these colorful portraits. It's funny because he's not very colorful himself." She giggled. "What do you paint? Besides your own hair, of course."

"I paint feelings." There he was, sounding like a self-absorbed prick. "I don't mean to sound like a self-absorbed prick, but I really don't know how else I can put it."

"You don't sound like a prick, just like an art student."

He tilted his head a little. "Just like I said, a self-absorbed prick." They chuckled in unison.

"Okay, you're right! But can you explain to me, though?"

"What?"

"What do you mean by 'I paint feelings'." She made an air quote.

"Oh. I mean. You see, take this moment right now." Naruto gestured with his hand, showing her the place. "If I were to paint this moment, both of us chatting, these people dancing, my priority wouldn't be to picture our faces or these walls or whatever. It would be like…My sweaty hands, aching stomach, alcoholic breath. Your watery eyes. The way you tap your fingers to the beat." He gesticulated a lot while talking, simulating the painting process, stroking the air with his fingers. "That green stuff that guy over there is drinking. I mean, what can I do to picture this feeling? That's what I try to achieve with my paintings. Feelings and sensations. Mostly good ones. Maybe that's why most of my paintings are about my friends." A toothy grin took over his face.

She smiled back, unable to resist his excitement.

He seemed to remember something and frowned a little, wrinkling his nose. "My friends and, well… My exes?" He added, with a funny voice.

She laughed at him. "Bad stories?"

"Not all of them! Some of them are my friends as well, so I guess there were some happy endings?"

"That's good."

"Yeah, I guess." Suddenly, he looked at something behind her. "Is that your friend? He's kinda staring at us." He pointed with his chin.

Sasuke almost went out through the same door he had just entered when he saw that yellow cloud just above his friend's head. Out of all people, was Sakura talking to that guy? _Awesome._ That's just what he needed. He felt his guts twist and turn as the blond made a gesture indicating he had been seen, so he had no choice but to keep walking. His feet felt heavy inside his boots, his heart was punching his ribs from the inside. His ears fucking burned.

Sakura turned around and there was Sasuke, walking towards them with his hands in his pockets and a frown on his face. "Yup! That's him."

For some reason, Naruto had a feeling he knew that guy already.

After the dramatic walk, Sasuke finally got to them and mumbled a "good evening" before turning to face Sakura. "Are you ready to go, Sakura?"

"I've been ready for ages! What took you so long, anyway?"

"I had to deal with some... things." _My stupidity and my brother treating me like a ten year old, for instance._

"Yeah." She narrowed her eyes. He seemed weirder than normal. "Of course you had." Sakura suddenly looked from his face to Naruto's and her eyes lit up. A hint of a smirk was laying on the corner of her mouth when she spoke: "I'll just freshen up a little, wait a second, okay?"

She quickly disappeared into the crowd.

Sasuke was so tense he couldn't move. Did Sakura notice that that was _the_ yellow-haired guy? That's why she left him alone in that stupid party? He couldn't even spare Naruto a second glance.

Suddenly the blond said "Hi!" and gave him a small wave.

Sasuke looked up to him and mentally thanked the gods for the poor illumination of that place as he felt his face getting warm. _Act casual, you moron_.

"Hey", he said, lowering his head as he nodded.

"I'm Naruto." A beautiful smile lit up his face.

Sasuke just nodded again and averted his eyes, unable to sustain the gaze. He felt like throwing up. What was happening to him?

Something about that gesture made Naruto's mind click. _Oh_. So that's where he knew him from. "Oh! You're that guy from earlier. I guess I saw you walking towards the arts' building this morning."

"I guess so."

"Are you the painter? Sakura was just telling me about a friend of hers who did portraits. Is that you?"

"Yes." _Won't you shut up and let me suffer in silence?_

 _Rude_. But Naruto wouldn't give up. "I'm a painter too. We'll probably get some classes together. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand.

Sasuke's stomach twisted in a funny manner, he wasn't familiar with that feeling. Why was that guy trying to be nice? Didn't he notice he was making him uncomfortable, for Christ's sake? He felt unable to use words, but he tried, anyway: "I'm going to the smoking area, please let Sakura know when she comes back." He didn't even wait for an answer and walked away without ever looking back.

Naruto stood there, hand extended, mouth half open in shock. _Fucking rude_ , he thought to himself, as he shook his head in denial and put his ignored hand in his pocket. That cold treatment was a direct hit on his social butterfly pride.

A few steps away, Sasuke nervously ran one of his hands through his hair, and tried to light up a cigarette with the other. When he finally got it right, he inhaled like his life depended on it and let the smoke out lazily through his nose. He didn't understand why he felt like that around a guy he didn't even know. Was that because of all the jokes Sakura and Ino had made about it? Was that embarrassment he was experiencing? He'd kill Sakura for leaving him in that ridiculous position.

… Afterwards . Right now, he was only able to inhale once more.

* * *

 **Author's note:** So, Itachi's here and he's an English teacher. What did you think about his appearance? And our boys got to shake hands with each other! ... Well, sort of. Haha

Let me know your thoughts about the story so far!

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** It took me a while to post this one! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 **Beta-reader:** itsafour

* * *

"No way!" Ino said for the third time in five minutes.

"Yes way! I'm telling you! I left them alone so they could talk to each other! I was talking with the yellow-haired guy all this time, but I only noticed it was him when I saw Sasuke's face!"

"Did he look freaked out?"

"Yes!", Sakura replied cheerfully, holding both of her friend's hands. She couldn't be mad at Ino for too long, especially at a moment where they could be laughing at Sasuke together. And, well, what were the chances of finding her in the bathroom, out of all people? The universe had to be trying to tell her to let go.

Ino squeaked. "Good!" She practically sang. "That's why he called you? For love advice?"

Fuck the universe. She was still mad. "Yeah...", she replied, the lie stealing the joy away from her voice. She let go of Ino's hands.

Ino didn't seem to notice the change. "Finally we'll have material to disrupt his peace as he does with us!"

Sakura blinked, confused. "He never disrupts my peace, he's actually very quiet most of the time."

"No, silly, I mean that thing he does! He's a thief of hearts. I never get to hook up with anyone more than twice, because after I introduce any fling to you guys, they're like 'oh, who is that fake goth with disgusting hair? Guess I wanna lick his face and stuff'."

Sakura wasn't cool with Ino yet, but she couldn't help but laugh at her friend's impersonation."You usually date ingenuous impressionable people, they're usually interested in the mysterious type."

"I date them 'cause they're easier to dump!" She chuckled. "And I don't do long-term relationships, you know that, so there you go."

Sakura crossed her arms. "I do know, that's why I don't get it. If you're willing to dump them so easily, what's wrong with the whole licking-Sasuke's-face thing? As far as I see he's doing you a favor."

"That's the thing! I don't want them to dump me, I want to dump them! What about my heartbreaker reputation?"

Ino was joking, Sakura could tell. But she already felt her eyebrows coming together, the judgement spread all over her face. "Is this about your ego then?"

"Always." She winked at Sakura.

Sakura suddenly remembered why she avoided talking to Ino whenever she was drunk. She always felt like screaming at her face or kissing her - as Ino had already done to her. Many times. " _I was drunk, I'm sorry_ ", she'd say after. Sakura didn't feel like she herself would be able to use that as an excuse.

She was a mess. Her stomach ached, her legs felt wobbly and she probably had a stupid look on her face. The urge to make bad choices was there, growing inside her. So she collected the last ounce of willpower she had left, looked up, threw her hands to the sky and whined, dramatically: "God, please tell me! Why are all of my friends such egocentric jerks?"

Ino laughed. "Maybe because you like egocentric jerks!"

Sakura raised one hand and looked down. "Guilty! Can't argue with that."

"You're such a masochist!"

"Does that make you a sadist?"

"Nah, I'd say I can play both parts."

 _Oh, my God!_ "Please, spare me of your sex life details."

Ino made a face and was about to open her mouth when a drunk girl bumped into her, making her lose her balance. Sakura helped her stay on her feet while said girl shouted from inside the toilet cabin: "sorry, I really needed to pee".

They were standing in an awkward position when Ino said: "It's not as interesting as it seems, I swear."

"Okay!" Sakura stepped back subtly. "Anyway. I've got to get going. Sasuke must have already burned into flames by now. And he will kill me for leaving him there, so..."

"Okay, go save your goth prince."

Ino got close to her again and kissed her on the cheek before walking away. Sakura sighed by herself. Even when she was the first to say goodbye, Ino was the first to leave.

 _Okay. Sasuke_.

Sakura didn't know how much time she spent in the toilet, or for how long she had to fight through the crowd, but, when she finally got where she'd left the boys, Naruto was alone. He had both of his hands in his pockets and was facing down. "Hey", she called.

"Hey. Your friend said he'd be at the smoking area." He pointed to his left, uninterestedly.

He was acting weird. What the fuck did Sasuke do? "Thanks. Did he… do something to you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. He was just..." He looked around, as if he was searching for the right word in the air. "Rude."

He seemed aloof. Sakura felt the regret growing inside her. "Yeah, he can be rude… I'm sorry I left you guys alone."

"No problem."

"I'm really, really sorry. If I had known he'd be rude to you I wouldn't have left you two alone with each other."

Something in her voice didn't seem quite right. His eyebrows met each other, worry spread over his face. "Hey! It's okay, really! Look, it's not your fault that he acted like a dick, okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't worry. We're cool." He gave her a small pat on the forearm. "Are you okay? Feeling better?"

"Yes!" She smiled gently. "Thanks for spending your time with me. You saved my night. Really."

"It was nothing! You're welcome, anytime."

"You too! I already told you I can show you the ropes."

"And I already said yes!" He smiled. "Now go find your friend, you must be tired."

"I will. Enjoy the rest of the evening."

"Yeah." He nodded.

His smile was so reassuring that, as she walked away, she found herself smiling too. This guy was really nice. She was glad she met him.

* * *

Naruto felt like shit.

As Sakura turned around, the corners of his mouth got heavier, the smile slowly fading. He didn't like to pretend he was okay, but he also didn't want to ruin his good job at making her feel better - especially because of someone else's rudeness.

He didn't understand why that guy had acted like that towards him, but that cold treatment made him remember he wasn't home, after all. He was away. Four hours by car, five hours by bus, to be exact. He missed home, he missed his friends. He reached inside his pocket and grabbed his phone to see what time it was, to check if it was sensible to call Gaara this late.

 _God_ , he missed Gaara. If only he was home right now he could drive to Gaara's house, burst into his room, lay down on his bed and tell him about his night, about the new friend he had made - if he could already call her a friend. And he'd tell him about the dark emo dude that ignored him, and Gaara would raise a non-existent eyebrow, make a face and ask, for the millionth time, "what is it about you and emo dudes?", and he'd answer "you're an emo dude", to which his friend would reply "I might be, but I'm not one of those you're trying to hook up with". And Naruto, as always, would chuckle in response, when deep in his heart he just wanted to say " _yes, you are_ ".

It was already two in the morning. Gaara was probably awake listening to his depressive playlists, but Naruto could picture him asleep, anyway; curled up around his own body, his dark eyelids closed shut. They were dark due to his lack of sleep and, of course, due to the eyeliner he meticulously applied every morning - Naruto had watched his morning routine too many times to count, he even knew Gaara's favorite brands.

He started dialing Gaara's number - he liked to do it, even though he just had to press the dial button twice to call him, as Gaara was always the last person he had spoken to on the phone - and then he stopped. He felt drunk and lonely and he was afraid he might cry on the phone - which he hated intensely. Instead, he opened Gaara's chat window and sent him a selfie with a message: "miss you, bae". He smiled at himself and felt his stomach twitch.

That was kind of their thing.

Bae, sweetie, dark lord of my heart. They'd call each other lovey-dovey nicknames, they'd spoon more often than not, they'd refer to each other as husband and grab each other's butts. For God's sake, they would even _kiss_ every now and then! ...But they'd never talk about it seriously. Their relationship was complicated - in a good way, they'd attest when someone asked them - and Naruto always missed him. One could say Naruto fell in love for every single one of his best friends, and he'd confirm it, but the thing about Gaara was that it had lasted. He fell in love with other people but he was always on the move - always moving on. Breakups hurt, but his heart would mend. With Gaara it was different. He'd think the feelings had gone away only to find that Gaara still stood there, the reigning king of his heart.

His phone vibrated. A new message.

He opened it. "Miss you too, sweetheart" and a picture of him, his hand over his face, his green eyes open. He was wearing one of Naruto's t-shirts.

 _... God_.

He _missed_ Gaara.

* * *

Sasuke couldn't be more pissed off.

He had run out of cigarettes to smoke, his phone was dead and, right now, everything he wanted was some silence - which he couldn't possibly achieve at a place like that. Religion wasn't exactly one of his interests, but somehow he found himself looking up. " _God? Please make Sakura hurry?_ ", he tried. But it was useless, there was still no voice inside his mind but his.

His hands were fidgeting inside his pockets, he bit his own lower lip to the point of breaking skin more than once. He wanted to leave. To go home and sleep and forget about his embarrassment. He looked at his watch one more time. How much longer would Sakura make him wait? He closed his eyes and started to count to try and calm himself down.

It didn't work.

The anxiety was starting to bubble beneath his skin. He felt trapped. The noise was maddening. He tried to remember something, anything helpful. He fought the panic but it was useless. He raised his hand to scratch his ear and it was painful, because his nails were ruined from all the biting.

And then he remembered. Something he was doing to stop biting his nails. Meditation. The big ball of light and whatever the fuck. He breathed in and out. In and out.

In and-

His eyes were still closed when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He ignored it. The person did it again. "Leave me alone", he muttered. He didn't care who the fuck it was, he finally managed to calm down and-

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

It was Sakura's voice. He opened his eyes. "No. Can we go now?"

"Yes... Did anything happen?"

"You left me alone with a complete stranger at a party. And I ran out of cigarettes", he said plainly.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. Gosh, I am so sorry." She felt her face contorting. She couldn't cry now. _Oh, fuck._

 _Whoa_. She couldn't cry now. He wasn't feeling okay and surely wouldn't be able to calm them both down. "Sakura, it's okay. Let's just get out of this hell, we can talk later."

She snorted and nodded profusely, unable to stop the already established crying. "Okay", she mumbled weakly. She grabbed his hand and guided them both to the exit.

As soon as Sasuke breathed in the night's cold air, he felt renewed. It was like the mere act of existing outside that noisy place brought him his control back. He looked at the sky, relieved, and then turned to face Sakura. She was still crying. "Sakura", he heard his voice saying.

She mouthed an inaudible "yeah", both of her hands occupied with the tears her eyes profusely produced.

"I parked over there."

She looked at him, her face red and glistening, her eyes starting to get puffy. "Okay." She started to walk.

He followed, staring at her feet from behind. "You're shaking. Are you cold?"

"A little."

They got to his motorcycle. He took his jacket off. "Here", he offered.

She took it. "Thanks." Her chest trembled as she cried harder.

At this point, almost no sound was able to escape her throat. Motion was all that was left of her, but Sasuke could still hear the faint sound of the party.

It was like watching a sad silent movie with a terrible soundtrack.

"Sakura", he called, firmly. His hand found her shoulder. "Is there anything I can do?"

Both of her hands were covering her face when she replied with a muffled "no".

"Do you want to sleep at my place?"

She just nodded.

He handed her his helmet - because she liked it better than the other - and put the spare on.

A minute later they were rushing through their city's streets. She clung to his body, shaking, and he rolled on the throttle in response, going faster, trying to provide her some comfort with the wind, with the street lights, with the low noises the engine produced.

When they got there, he didn't know - or care - what time it was.

They walked in to find Itachi still reading, sitting on the same spot. He saw Sakura's face and looked at Sasuke, inquiring.

"Sakura will sleep here tonight", Sasuke informed.

Itachi nodded. "Okay. Sleep tight, kids."

"We're adults, Itachi", Sasuke said.

"Good night, Itachi. Thanks for having me", Sakura said, ignoring her friend.

Sasuke was surprised she was able to say that many words without bursting into tears again.

"You're always welcome, Sakura. You're family." He smiled tenderly, looking at her over his old-fashioned glasses. "Good night", he said, and went back to his book.

Sasuke took the opportunity to hold her hand and help her up the stairs. They quickly got inside his room and he closed the door behind him, letting out a tired sigh. _Finally_.

"Sasuke", Sakura said, already laying on his huge bed.

"Hm", he mumbled, still standing against the door.

She turned to her side to face him. Underneath her puffy eyes, she looked intrigued; her voice hoarse when she started: "How come Itachi lets you bring a girl to your room-", she took a moment to clear her throat, "a girl to sleep in your bed! Without even asking further questions?"

"I'm an adult, Sakura", he replied, knowing it would make her laugh - _hoping_ it would make her laugh.

It worked; she let out a small chuckle before talking again. " _Right now_ you are! But I come to your house almost every week since we were what? ...Sixteen? He never said anything? Never tried to have the talk with you or something?"

A shiver rushed down Sasuke's back. "He _did_ try. Much to my displeasure. But not because of you."

"How come?"

"He knows we're gay, Sakura", he stated. And then proceeded to sit on his bed, beside her.

"Oh", she stopped for a moment and then continued, "did you tell him?"

He nodded. "Never had to." He turned to search for something inside his nightstand.

"Do you think he just figured it out or do you think someone saw you with a dude and told him?"

"I think he just figured it out. And if he asked me I wouldn't deny it." He had found what he was looking for, a half full cigarette pack. "As surprising as it sounds, I don't keep secrets from my brother; I've never been able to", he shrugged, "we only have each other." He grabbed a cigarette and looked at her, asking for permission.

She gave him the smallest nod.

He took his zippo from his pocket and lit his cigarette.

She observed him exhaling. "How come we never talked about this?"

He shrugged once more. "I'm not a talker."

It was true. He wasn't. "But I am."

He looked at her. "You don't talk family."

She wrinkled and scratched her nose. "Yeah", she said softly, and turned her gaze away from his before closing her eyes.

Silence fell between them. The ticking of his alarm clock - _seriously, who uses these things these days?_ \- and his compassed inhaling and exhaling were the loudest sounds in the room for quite some time.

Sakura looked up and stared at the ceiling light until her eyes watered a little. She pressed her own cheeks with her cold fingers. The skin was sticky where her tears had run down. She looked up at Sasuke. He seemed peaceful. The tip of his nose was still red due to the night's cold air.

"I plan to tell them soon." She said, finally.

"... Okay", he replied, exhaling.

"I'm just waiting for something… Something _concrete._ A good reason to bring the topic up into conversation. Like a...", the last part of her sentence was incomprehensible.

"Like a what?"

"Like." She sighed, embarrassed. "A girlfriend. Like a girlfriend."

He took a second to process the information and then nodded slowly, not sure if he should ask further.

She took the nod as a sign to go on and continued: "I thought I'd be having this conversation with them last year. But. Things didn't go as I planned… I... _I never got to ask her._ "

 _Oh. Her._ Sasuke looked at his friend. She was lying on her side, curled around herself. "Ino?"

She nodded, pressing her lips together as if something alive was trying to escape her mouth.

He sighed and placed a hand on the top of her head. "Sakura."

She looked at him.

"You will be fine."

It was enough for her tears to start running again. The thing inside her mouth crawled its way out. "I just wanted her to like me back!", she cried. "Is it… too much to ask?"

He nodded. "It isn't." He ran his hand through her hair gently, unable to think of anything helpful to say. He didn't know how to deal with feelings - let alone this kind of feelings - but he tried. For the sake of her well-being, he tried.

They stayed like that for a while.

At some point, she moved a little, only to rest her head on his lap. A while later, she was asleep.

When he thought it was safe, he moved her head to the pillow on her side of the bed. She had removed her sneakers and jacket earlier, so he just took a blanket and covered her body.

He turned the lights off and lay down next to her, the ticking of his alarm clock the only lullaby he needed after such a long night.

Despite how physically tired and emotionally exhausted he was, his sleep was full of dreams. Painted yellow dreams.

 _Very confusing_ painted yellow dreams.

Next morning, he woke up feeling red.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** Thanks for the reviews, everyone! It's so good to see that you like my story!

Chapter 4 is here, hope you guys enjoy it!

My beta-reader is too busy studying to get her master's degree (you're doing amazing, sweetie!) so this one was not revised. Feel free to point out any mistakes.

* * *

It took a while for Naruto to recognize the place where he'd woken up. The ceiling was too white, nothing like his bedroom's - which was light blue and full of sketches and pictures of the sky. He stretched his hand to the whiteness so he could touch it, but it was beyond his reach. Moving felt weird.

Shit.

He was hungover.

As soon as he turned his head to examine the other side of the room - he could see a single bed with some folded clothes on it, a study table, a bookshelf containing books and... dumbbells - he felt the bubbly sensation he got during a migraine. It was like his brain was underwater, but in a bad way. His stomach wasn't that good either - he felt it burn the second he thought about eating something.

Darn it.

He picked up his phone from underneath the pillow where he was laying - could he call it his pillow? - to see what time it was. He wasn't late for class. Actually, he woke up earlier than he had planned. What was the name of his roommate again? He wasn't one to forget a name so easily, specially the name of such a nice guy.

What was it?

"Hey, Naruto! Are you awake?" The joyful boy tilted his head to try and get a better view of Naruto's face. "Good morning! Did you sleep well?"

Naruto looked at the doorway and there was his roommate, nothing but a towel covering the lower half of his body. A white towel with soft green stripes. His black hair was damp and glued to his forehead, which made him look younger than he probably was. A toothy smile stood proudly on his face like it belonged there.

"Good morning!", Naruto heard himself say, more hoarsely than he had planned. Oh, the alcohol. "I'm not at my best but, yeah, I guess the sleep was fine. Lee... right?"

"Yup! Rock Lee, at your service." The boy at the doorway flickered his hand and made a small bow.

Naruto chuckled. "Thanks, man!" He rubbed his eyes with the back of his right hand. "Do you have any pain killers? I'm having this terrible headache."

Lee locked puzzled for a second. "Actually, I don't. I usually treat headache with loads of water and chamomile tea! Do you want some tea? I just made some."

"Yeah, of course!" Naruto sat on his bed and smiled, scratching his head. His scalp felt itchy, it was time to wash his hair. "I guess anything will do."

"Okay, then, just a second!" Lee got out of the room in a flash.

Sitting down like that suddenly didn't feel like a good idea. Naruto's head was spinning painfully. He shouldn't have drinked that much the night before. His phone vibrated. His alarm was finally ringing, so he had about one hour until the beginning of his first class of that day. He got up of the bed, stretched his arms out and proceeded to the corner of the room where he'd left his unpacked travel case, in order to fetch some clothes.

Naruto was browsing through his underwear when his phone rang loudly again. It should be his second alarm. Lee had just barged through the door, holding a mug of steaming tea on his hand. "Here!", he said cheerfully, and placed the mug on Naruto's nightstand.

"Thanks, Lee! Oh. Could you please turn off my alarm? My cellphone is on my bed."

"Sure!"

That noise was driving him mad. Naruto watched anxiously as Lee grabbed his phone and made a funny face. The noise didn't stop.

"Um... Naruto. It's not an alarm, someone's calling you."

"This early in the morning? They probably got the number wrong."

"It says 'hubbie'. I- I think it's your husband." He stretched his arm out to show Naruto the screen.

"Oh." Naruto smiled unconsciously. He accepted the phone from Lee's hand. "Thanks again, Lee!"

Lee was blushing lightly when he answered: "no problem! I-I'll give you some privacy!" But Naruto was too busy still smiling at his phone to notice. Lee picked up the folded clothes on his bed and got out of the room, closing the door behind him softly.

"Hello, baby", Naruto greeted when he finally picked up the phone.

" _Morning, handsome. Are you okay?"_

"Yup!" He chuckled, pleased to hear Gaara's voice. "I knew you'd miss me, but not so much that you'd be calling me first thing in the morning like this. Not that you ever sleep or anything."

" _Actually_ ", Naruto could feel the smile in his voice, "y _ou sent me some... funny audio messages yesterday. You asked me to call you in order to wake you up_."

Naruto froze. "Did I?"

" _Yes_."

Fucking booze. _I'm such an idiot._ "What else, ah, what else did I say?" He forced a laugh to try and sound more casual, but it came out weird.

" _You asked me to marry you._ "

Naruto gasped and coughed, "WHA-"

" _Just kidding_." Gaara chuckled softly, amused. " _You were just singing some pop songs and yelling a lot._ "

"HA! HA. HA. Not funny, you jerk."

" _I apologise_ ", Gaara said. Naruto could taste the smile in his voice.

"You're not even sorry."

" _Nope._ "

Naruto sighed. "I'm glad you called."

" _Me too. You were right, before."_

"About what?"

" _I already miss you a lot._ "

Naruto's stomach turned in a familiar way. "I miss you more." He smiled to himself. "No one here uses as much eyeliner as you do. There's no one to contrast my bright style."

" _No one here yells as much as you do"_ , he paused for a moment, " _I feel like I'm engulfed by silence._ "

He sounded sad. Did something happen? "Yeah. But don't worry! We'll be together again soon. When will you come and visit me?"

" _As soon as mom gets a little better. She's not so well right now._ "

That was it then.

Gaara's mother was fighting depression ever since they were little. She had bad days and good days, but there were times when things would be unbearable for her. This was probably the case this time. It happened a few times since Naruto and Gaara met, and every time it happened Naruto would make himself more present at his friend's house. The three of them would watch Disney movies together. This time, though, he wouldn't be able to do it. Right before he left their town, he had had a bad feeling about her health state. She didn't hug him when he stopped by to say his goodbyes. When she was feeling well, she was very tender. She'd hug him a lot and ruffle his hair every now and then. She was a very sweet person.

Of all her children, Gaara was the one that resembled her the most. Not physically, though - physically, except for his bright red hair, he was almost a carbon copy of his father - but his temper. Gaara was very sad - and very sweet. People would often think of him as a cold person, but he wasn't. He was usually very quiet, but he would open up to the people he loved and knew well. Naruto felt very lucky for being one of these people.

Naruto could remember the moment where he realized how much Gaara cherished him. It was a rainy day and the thunders were loud and clear. Naruto was almost asleep on a mattress next to Gaara's bed. "Are you asleep?", Gaara had asked, touching his shoulder. "Yes", he had replied. Usually an answer like that would be enough to make Gaara leave him be, but, instead of doing so, Gaara had said "Naruto, I'm afraid of thunder." After hearing this, Naruto looked up and saw his frightened face. "Okay", he had said, and climbed up to Gaara's bed. They slept holding each other that night. They were only fourteen.

"Maybe I'm the one who should visit you... We could cook for her, watch some movies."

". _.. Yeah. It would be nice. But you have your education to take care of, and it's your dream university. Don't let anything get in the way of your dreams._ "

Gaara went from casually chatting to seriously advising in a heartbeat.

Naruto chuckled. "All right, captain. Then I'll be waiting for your visit! I have to shower now and I probably should wash my hair... it kind of stinks."

" _Have a nice shower, then. Don't forget to eat something. Good morning, Naruto. Goodbye._ "

"Bye, sweetie."

Naruto found himself alone again. "All right", he said out loud. He grabbed the clothes he had picked, got up, clapped once and proceeded to take a shower.

* * *

With his palms on his warm cheeks, Sasuke opened his eyes. He had this terrible headache going on. Sleep privation at its finest. He pressed the bridge of his nose, frustrated, and took a moment to breathe deeply, in order to properly wake up.

As he did every morning, he got up, stretched lazily and then began his yoga routine.

He was just finishing it when Sakura woke up.

"Morning", she mumbled, resting on her elbows to check what he was doing.

"Morning", he replied, as he breathed out for the last time.

"I'm going to take a shower, can I use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, I'll use the one downstairs."

"Okay."

He was fetching himself some clothes when she yelled from inside the bathroom: "Sasuke!"

"Yeah?"

"Can you bring me a towel?"

"Okay."

He grabbed his clothes and a clean towel and went to the bathroom's door. He knocked.

She opened a small branch to get the towel. "Thanks", she said quickly.

"No problem."

He went downstairs, took a cold shower, got inside his clean clothes and proceeded to the kitchen. As usual, Itachi had already left - he always woke up too early for someone who barely slept. Sasuke went around the kitchen assembling some stuff for breakfast. He ended up with almond milk and corn flakes for himself and peanut butter, jelly, bread and orange juice for Sakura.

A minute later he could hear her footsteps coming downstairs.

"Sasuke, I used your shampoo, okay? My hair smelled of smoke."

He didn't answer, she knew she could use anything of his but his underwear, his favorite leather jacket and his socks.

She sat down and began to make her sandwiches. Behind his bowl of almond milk and corn flakes, Sasuke eyed his friend. She looked okay, no sign of crying-in-the-shower or anything.

"Are you okay?", he asked softly.

She nodded once.

He nodded too, in response.

* * *

"Hey! Sakura!", Ino shouted, waving a hand in the air. She was standing near The Tree, together with a bunch of people. New flesh?

Sakura looked at Sasuke and he rolled his eyes. They were at the parking lot.

"Will you come with me?", she asked, embarrassed.

He thought of awful, terrible things to say. Instead, he said: "Sure. Unlike a certain someone, I'm your friend."

She took his hand and mouthed a voiceless "thank you".

Ino was definitely in her element. She was gesticulating a lot, a thousand faces per second, every giggle was like music to the students listening to her. Sasuke thought they looked too young and stupid. _Or maybe it's just the effect she has on people_.

"Hey, guys! I was just introducing these ones to our Uni!" She turned to face the freshmen before her. "So... I guess that's all, folks. You're all prepared to wander the campus. And don't forget to..."

"Never use the bathroom at the Business building!", they said in unison.

"Exactly! Bye bye!" She walked towards Sasuke and Sakura, which were waiting for her, and put her arms around their shoulders, turning them in the process. "Oh, can we walk this way? I need to get some things in my car." She started to walk, making them walk with her. "So... Sasuke, my boy..."

"I'm not your boy", he mumbled.

Ino ignored him. "I heard some rumors about your crush. The sunny boy."

"I already told you he's not m-"

"My boy, I was so surprised! I didn't know you had a thing for married dudes..."

"What", Sakura said, no inflection of a question in her voice. "Ino, are you making stuff up?"

"No! You know I would never! You see, I was at The Tree this morning and I saw Rock Lee walking really fast towards God knows where. He had this look on his face - like that one time when we found out he had a crush on Neji, remember? So! I called him and asked 'are you okay?' and he was like 'I'm not sure' and I was like 'what happened, Lee?' and he went like 'oh, I have this new roommate and whatever blablabla and his phone rang and it was his husband! and I was so embarrassed'. You see, the husband thing was what got my attention! So I asked 'WHAT. WHO.' and he said 'Naruto, the one with the yellow shiny hair!' Then I yelled 'holy shit! Sasuke's crush?'"

"You. yelled. what.", Sasuke said.

Ino cleared her throat. "I yelled HOLY SHIT, SASUKE'S CRUSH?", she yelled.

Sasuke's face flushed red as some heads turned to look at them. He grabbed a cigarette in the speed of light and lit it up, making as much smoke as he could to try and cover his face.

"I swear to God, Ino, someday I'm gonna kill you", he said between his teeth.

"Is this a threat? Are you threatening a soon-to-be-lawyer, Sasuke, my dear?"

"Go fuck yourself, Ino." He got rid of her grasp. "Sakura, do you mind if I go?", he asked.

"Not at all", Sakura replied.

"See you later, then."

The girls watched intently as he walked away.

"Gosh, Ino, what was the point of that?"

"I was just playing with him."

"It wasn't funny, you know. You don't have to be so mean."

"He deserves it. He's too cool. I want to shake his coolness."

"Ino!"

"What?"

"Just leave him be!"

She sighed. "Okay, fine, I may have gotten a little too far with the whole thing."

"A little?"

"Yeah. Won't happen again. Shit, I guess I never pissed him off like that. He even went away from us."

" _You_. He went away from _you._ He kindly asked me if I was okay with him going. Unlike a certain someone, I'm his friend."

"Okay, okay. But, hey! Don't you think it means we were right?"

"About what?"

"About the crush thing. Maybe he really looks at this guy and thinks 'holy shit, I need to kiss him' and stuff."

"'Dunno. He looked pretty pissed when I left them alone with each other last night. He was rude to the guy and left him alone afterwards."

"That's such a huge sign! Sakura. He's a prick but he's a cool prick. He's usually uncomfortable around people, but he never bails. Then he sees this guy twice and suddenly he's... blushing? Like, what the fuck, he's Sasuke. What does it mean when he blushes and freaks out when I mention some guy?"

"Maybe he's through with you?"

"No one's ever through with me. But, Sakura, you're missing the point."

"The point being?"

"I can help him! We can help him. It's the first really possible crush since who? That guy Juugo on eleventh grade?"

"Ino. Come on."

"What?"

"You won't play Cupid with Sasuke, okay."

"Was that a question?"

"It was a statement. I won't take part in this."

"I'll be subtle."

"Ino."

"Trust me."

"Fine." They had gotten to Ino's car, Sakura stopped walking. "Do whatever you want but please don't put him into weird situations, okay?"

"All right."

"Don't make him embarrassed. Please! He's already too freaked out to function."

"Okay."

"I'll get going then, see you around."

"Don't you have any classes today?"

"I do, but I'm really hungover, so I'll be going home."

"Oh! I was just thinking about doing the same, actually. I got this migraine and. So… Don't you want me to drive you home? I-", she looked down, "I wanna make amends for last night."

"There's no need to-"

"I know you are mad at me. Please. Let me drive you home."

"Ino." Sakura closed her eyes. "I'm tired of this... thing. I don't want you to make amends for anything, I want you to-" _Fuck_ , she would say it. "I want you to stop fucking me up."

"Sakura, I'm-"

"Don't say that you're sorry, I don't believe it anymore." Sakura felt something snap inside of her. "Just. Treat me right. And-", she breathed out, frowning, "stop rubbing every single one of your hookups on my face. I don't give a shit about who you kiss or fuck, but it's fucking messed up when it's clear that there are things you do just to push me away. It's not like I will force myself on you…" She forced herself to open her eyes. "You know how I. Feel about you. And you know I am your friend since we were seven. So just… Tell me about the most important ones… Tell me-" The words felt weird on her mouth. "... When you fall in love with someone. I promise you that I won't be a jerk then. I'll listen to you, I'll be nice to you… Ino, I'm your friend. I just want you to be my friend back. You don't have to _be a jerk_ to push me away. Do you understand?"

Ino's mouth was curled, she had a weird look on her face. She nodded once. "Yes", she said softly.

"Okay. I'll get going then. See you around." Sakura turned on her heels and walked away, hoping that whatever got into her that day knew what it was doing. As Ino's car got past her in the parking lot, she mouthed a voiceless " _fuck me_ " and proceeded to walk faster.

* * *

Sasuke was sitting comfortably on his chair, waiting for the teacher to arrive. He was looking forward to this class, this teacher was the reason why he chose this university after all.

He was lost in thoughts when suddenly a moron bumped a hip into his shoulder. He bumped into his desk in turn, out of balance. His notebook and pencil fell from his desk, making a thud on the floor. He looked up to kill said moron with his glare.

What a fucking surprise.

Life had a way to get on his nerves.

He opened his mouth once but no sound came out.

He opened his mouth for a second time.

Was he a fucking fish?

"Ah", his mouth said.

"Sorry", said the blond looking back at him.

They stood there staring at each other.

The blond suddenly looked around, like an idiot.

Sasuke swallowed the urge to yell something stupid, like " _hey, look back at me, I'm still glaring_ ". No one ever looked away from his eyes. He looked around. Not desperately, like the idiot. Coolly. Coolly looked around.

Everyone in the class was silent, staring at them.

He didn't feel cool anymore, his cheeks tingled, mocking him. _Fuck no! Not here..._

He stood up and walked to the door, bumping into the yellow mess in the process.

He went out the building door, feeling like a madman, breathing like a madman. Exasperated. He was exasperated. What was a freshman, _that_ freshman, doing on his class? Embarrassing him on his first day of his most awaited class. Who the fuck he thought he was?

He lit up a cigarette, feeling his heart pound against his chest. He took some drags and decided he was himself again.

He went back. The teacher was already there. His most awaited teacher was already there.

"Hey!", said the white-haired man. "Are you here for my class?"

"Yes."

"Next time, try not to be late, okay? I do not tolerate lateness." He smiled.

"Yes, teacher."

"All right, then. Let us proceed to the class. I'm Kakashi and I'll be introducing you to the wonders of Drawing II..."

To hell with good first impressions. The teacher thought he was a late loser already. He'd win Kakashi over, he wanted to work with him for God's sake. And he was going to make that idiot fucking blond pay.

Kakashi talked for some time, no one dared to interrupt him, dazed by his eloquence. He was great at his job. It almost made Sasuke forget about his embarrassment.

 _Almost._

Light and shadows was the subject of the day. The teacher sketched examples and then showed _chiaroscuro_ masterpieces by classical painters. On the second half of his class, he answered questions. Sasuke asked two himself. Finally a teacher that made him feel like he still had something to learn.

"... talent is very important, but discipline is the key to greatness. If you are disciplined, if you treat your work seriously, if you practice everyday, that's where you will thrive. Art is not something you will always happen to stumble upon, art is something you must work hard to achieve. And that's why I will leave you free to work whenever you want, according to your own will. You should make your own rules and follow then strictly. The only assessment I will ask for on my class will be a collab."

Sasuke gasped. People around him seemed to realize what the teacher had just said a second later, and a chattery rose among the students. Hands went up, none of them wanted to do group work, what the fuck was that?

Kakashi was silent, gazing at them with calm eyes.

He lifted up one hand. He waited until the murmurs were no more. When he spoke, his voice was inflectionless and clear: "I think you might have misunderstood my words. I wasn't suggesting, I was informing. This is not up for discussion. The minimum for each team is two. I'm afraid this is not a case of the more the merrier, I will fail anyone who slacks off and let someone else do the work for them. I will fail anyone who forces their will upon their group mates." He narrowed his eyes. "Trust me, I will know." He stopped talking. No one seemed to be breathing. Someone might have sobbed a little. He started again: "You have about ten minutes until the class is over. If you don't want to fall behind your classmates, I suggest you pick your group right away." He smiled.

Sasuke closed his eyes forcibly. Around him, the noise of that maddening situation was ringing. Was this a nightmare? He managed to avoid every single group work up until this therm. Was this karma? Was he such a huge jerk?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes and turned, ready to burn whoever it was with his glare.

"Hey", the yellow mess blue eyes nice smell pretty lips said. He didn't look pleased at all. "We're the only ones left. Guess we'll be forced to work together."

Sasuke felt the strangest thing itching inside him. He realized, terrified, it was an urge to laugh. This was too much. This whole situation felt like some teenage movie. He tried to repress the laughter. His eyebrows did something weird. The corner of his mouth twitched nervously.

He should be looking like the madman he was.

Naruto's face twisted angrily. "Gosh! You don't have to look so disgusted, you know? Do it by yourself then, _asshole._ " Naruto stood up and took a step away.

Sasuke's eyes widened. His mouth said: "Wait."

Naruto turned around. "What?"

"I didn't mean to-" He breathed out.

Naruto waited, one of his eyebrows standing _en garde_.

"I think we should work together", Sasuke said, at last, swallowing his pride. He forced himself to keep a straight face, to look as serious as he could. He would deal with this badly written teenage romance plot. He would impress that teacher, he would get a good grade, he would make a great job, he would work with this… guy.

Naruto's expression softened, but he still looked pissed. "All right, then, let's do this." He offered one hand, the situation _too familiar._

Sasuke felt like a total moron.

He would not take chances.

He extended his arm and grabbed Naruto's hand in a tight grasp.

Naruto smiled ironically. "So you are familiar with shaking hands, eh?", he said, looking pretty damn proud of himself. He tightened his grasp before loosening it. "I'll be going now. I want to grab a bite before next class." He pointed at the door with his free thumb.

Sasuke let go of his hand like it was made of fire. Quickly, awkwardly. Naruto didn't seem to mind. "See ya", he said. And Sasuke was left alone with his thoughts.

He looked at his own hand, feeling weird. He watched his fingers flex. His brain organized some synapses, he fought it to no use. He tried to avoid it, but, in the end, his damned grey matter won.

" _His hand was so soft_ ", it thought.

" _Fuck me",_ he thought.


End file.
